Aolani
Hawaiian given name meaning "heavenly cloud" or "divine light".
Name Census estimates that about 889 living Americans carry the first name Aolani. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Aolani today is around 18 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Aolani births was 2007 (54 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Aolani. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Aolani with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
889
~ 1 in 385,550 Americans
Peak year
2007
54 babies that year
Average age
18
years old
2024 SSA rank
#4,658
Tracked since 1981
Census
Aolani in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 668 people with the first name Aolani, which placed it at #16,760 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#16,760
National first-name rank
People counted
668
668 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
59.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Aolani
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Aolani is Hispanic at 59.9%. The next largest groups are Black (12.9%) and Two or More Races (11.1%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Aolani described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Aolani at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino59.9% · 400
- Black or African American12.9% · 86
- Two or more races11.1% · 74
- White8.5% · 57
- Asian and Pacific Islander5.8% · 39
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.8% · 12
Popularity
Aolani: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Aolani from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 367 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Aolani remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Aolani by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Aolani during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Aolanis live
The SSA's state-level files cover 4 states and territories. California, Texas, Florida recorded the most babies named Aolani, while Illinois, Florida, Texas recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 72 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Aolani
The name Aolani is of Hawaiian origin, derived from the Hawaiian words "ao" meaning "cloud" and "lani" meaning "sky" or "heaven." This suggests that the name may have been given to children as a representation of the beauty and majesty of the Hawaiian skies and clouds.
The earliest recorded use of the name Aolani dates back to the late 19th century in Hawaii. It was likely a traditional Hawaiian name used by native Hawaiians long before it was documented in written records.
One of the earliest documented individuals with the name Aolani was Aolani Kaʻauwai, a Hawaiian musician and composer born in 1868. She is credited with composing several traditional Hawaiian songs that are still performed today.
Another notable figure with the name Aolani was Aolani Semler, a Hawaiian activist and educator who lived from 1904 to 1986. She was a prominent figure in the Hawaiian Renaissance movement, dedicated to preserving and promoting Hawaiian culture and language.
In the early 20th century, Aolani Kaʻauwai was a Hawaiian storyteller and educator who worked to document and share traditional Hawaiian stories and legends with younger generations.
Aolani Kalaʻi was a Hawaiian artist and sculptor active in the mid-20th century, known for his carvings and sculptures that depicted traditional Hawaiian motifs and themes.
More recently, Aolani Papalii was a Hawaiian artist and printmaker who lived from 1924 to 2010. Her works often celebrated Hawaiian culture and landscapes.
While the name Aolani has Hawaiian roots, its melodic sound and meaning have made it appealing to individuals of various cultural backgrounds in modern times. However, its origins and historical ties to Hawaii remain an essential part of its significance.
People
Aolani + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Aolani as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with A
Other first names starting with A with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Aolani: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Aolani?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 889 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Aolani going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 385,550 US residents.
Is Aolani a common name?
We classify Aolani as "Very Rare". It ranks above 89.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 902 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Aolani most popular?
The single biggest year for Aolani was 2007, when 54 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Aolani is about 18 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Aolani in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 668 people with the name Aolani, or 0.22 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #16,760 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Aolani in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Aolani?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Aolani leans strongly female. 658 people counted with this name were female (98.2%), compared with 12 male bearers (1.8%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Aolani?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Aolani is Hispanic at 59.9%. The next largest groups are Black (12.9%) and Two or More Races (11.1%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Aolani most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Aolani in the 2020 Census, accounting for 59.9% (400 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Aolani in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Aolani a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Aolani in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Aolani still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Aolani in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Aolani can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people have the name Aolani?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.